Jutland to Stuttgart by car in 4 days by BACK ROADS, suggestions to see /avoid?

Oh, that's a really long journey with hundreds of possible sights in between.

First, if you go south from Ribe, don't miss Møgeltønder. It's a short watch but worth it. Going to Oldenburg in Holstein means you go to the Baltic sea. When you are there, visit Heiligenhafen and/or Lübeck. Then go to Bremen, starting on the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_of_Weser_Renaissance. Make a short trip to Celle, which has a wonderful medieval city centre and castle. Back to the Weser, visit Hameln. Skip Hannover, as it was bombed heavily in WWII so it hasn't much old-time sights. Make a visit to Goslar. Again lots of timberframe houses, the Kaiserpfalz from 11th century, and the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rammelsberg silver mine, which was working from 968 to 1988. Then visit the timberframe city of Hannoversch Münden, where Werra and Fulda rivers join to form the Weser. Follow the Fulda valley to Kassel, see the baroque residence and the Bergpark at Wilhelmshöhe. Turn southwest and head to Limburg an der Lahn.

Phew. Have to rest now. Too much sights in my head.

OH! how wonderful! I'll start plotting this after my 2nd caffe! Any advice is helpful, as I have a feeling we'll do this trip again. Evidently we have some lost cousins who own a winery somewhere near Calw (Althengstett?) must look it up... that branch of the family were weavers, and there's a halftimber still standing they occupied. Yes, thanks for the Hanover skirt, and Celle! and the Fulda! Wonder if I could get the baroque-ists to see the silver mine. Getting excited I am. Danke danke. Still not sure WHERE we should start secondary-roading, & making time south. M

My suggestion was to take secondary roads from Ribe to Lübeck, then use the Autobahn 1 from Lübeck through Hamburg (maybe make a stop for the harbour) to Bremen, then change to secondary roads again and go to Nienburg, Celle, Minden, Rinteln, Hameln, Bodenwerder, Einbeck, Goslar, Göttingen, Hannoversch Münden. This roughly follows the Weser river upstream. Each of these small towns has medieval/Renaissance sights. Check in advance which town you want to give a closer look and which you only give a glance. It's just too much sights.

Then follow the Fulda river on secondary roads to Kassel, which has a lot of sights from the baroque, even a fake english castle from historicism times at the https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bergpark_Wilhelmsh%C3%B6he. Draw your own connections to Neuschwanstein.

OH, thanks so much. I will set the navigators to plotting. I'm in Canada - so I'll say "Vous êtes très gentil" (Sei molto gentile). So let's try: I know the du bist sehr, but not the rest -- nett? Thank-you!

Oh, you're welcome.

"Du bist sehr nett" is correct, but Germans would never say it because it can be easily misunderstood as flirting. Don't be too "nett" in German, it almost always ends in using a common chat-up phrase accidentally, which can be very awkward (^_^;) Or funny. Best advice is to always use formal "Sie" (+plural) and formal words like "freundlich" or "zuvorkommend" which are safe.

Oh, I was trying to think of Freundlich! Thank-you. Tho I was afraid THAT was too informal. And always Sie! But my Deutsche is limited to Bach chorales, I'm afraid. DW has a little course tho! http://www.dw.com/en/01-introduce-yourself/a-18727990

You could more or less follow branches of the Deutsch Fachwerkstraße (German Half-Timbered Road) most of the way.

I can't remember if it's on the Fachwerkstraße or not, but if you want to see an well-preserved walled town that isn't filled with trinket shops and tour buses, try to pay a quick visit to Fritzlar in northern Hessen.

Oh yes, Fritzlar is the next obvious stop, then Marburg, Wetzlar, and Limburg an der Lahn. Then, you have reached the Middle Rhine valley.

Good evening! (I am home, but partner now stranded in an airport, and it's 'hotel voucher' time.. alas). So I'm plotting this on google as I wait. I've gotten to Limburg. Should we press East via Heidelberg, before heading south to Calw? (East Rhine route? then via Karlsrhue?) Looks like we turn south at Pforzheim. If you are busy, ignore me! but it's ever so helpful! Once I know the route, I'll look up the cities and their details - we'll have to stay somewhere along the way, too, We're all short, so half-timbered inns with low ceilings are fun. That's Renningen, I understand. Ancestors were weavers (that family are Schnaufer & Wendel), and there's a large preserved weaver's house in Calw, I hear, a bit late, but 1694ish. Marvellous! I shall definately look up the Deutsch Fachwerkstraße immediately! M

Follow the Lahn River to Lahnstein, then take the B42 along the Rhein, heading south. B9 on the other river side is an autobahn in disguise, don't use that one. At sights and tourist towns as Boppard there are ferries which take you to the other side if you want to stop there. But leave your car at the B42 and check out the other river side by foot. Make sure to visit Bingen. Alzey and Worms are the next good stops. then Neustadt an der Weinstraße and Speyer. And Heidelberg of course, though it's very touristy.

Here's a word pf caution when driving in Germany: after zooming along the autobahn, you'll will encounter a road construction site (Baustelle). These are restricted speed zones and photo radar equipment is set up. Speeding fines can be hefty. My brother-in-law learnt the hard way to control his lead foot.

I agree with the suggestion of going to Celle, Minden, (for the canal, historical museum and sites and esp Porta Westfalica) ,Hameln, Göttingen (to see a famous Uni city), Einbeck (for the beer), and others. Take a taxi from the bus depot in Minden to reach Porta Westfalica. The buses don't go to the top, as far as I know.. You can bet you'll be the only American, these nice and worthy places are totally off the American tourist radar. Hannover Münden I almost went to on the first trip in 1971 but skipped it for Münster/Westfalen instead.

Oh, and if you are going REAL back roads, drive carefully and don't let your navigation system fool you.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/74/Weserf%C3%A4hre_Grohnde_IMG_5182.jpg
(That's a Weser ferry near Hameln)

Danke to all. I will be out of radio contact for a couple of weeks - but my sisters have just bought a German road map, and we will be plotting routes in the downtime at a family wedding :-) I have never used GPS, I must confess, and prefer maps - but they may know how to use it. Our car will be something called an Opel Astra, so it may be new enough to have GPS. I will still need wifi at cafes to check googlemaps. All of your information is valuable - and I know we will be revisiting this route. So I will be archiving all of your wonderful hints. My sister also asked if there was a weaving museum near Calw. I see there is one in Krefeld (?), and one in Breitenberg, http://www.passauer-land.de/en/museum-weaving-breitenberg/ so far...

Here is the relative's haus in Calw from 1694. http://www.mein-schwarzwald.de/locations/fachwerkhaus-schnaufer/ !

in terms of the Weser Ferry - we have those GPS incidents in Canada, too!
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/kitchener-woman-gps-drives-off-tobermory-boat-launch-1.3580930
not to mention the Brit tourists who drove over the Calatrava bridge in Venezia and onto the Fondamente, because GPS told them to....

"...never used a GPS...prefer maps...." Bravo! So do I. If you are a city train station, the book stores at the Hbf will have road and city maps, at some Hbf. it is a pretty extensive selection. It's a lovely area to see in Germany.

Most likely you get this car: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opel_Astra_K. It had predecessors, but the big rental companies most times have the newest models. Navigation may be in there but it's an extra in Europe, so maybe not. I hope you made sure to have ordered one with automatic transmission? (Or maybe you are fine with manual transmission, who knows?)

Weaving museums: This one http://www.weberei-museum-kircher.de/ is near Kassel (on the route). The region near Stuttgart where you are heading to had a rich weaving tradition, and in Sindelfingen near Stuttgart there is also a museum: http://www.haus-der-handweberei.de/sites/webereimuseum.html. Both offer hands-on workshops. Note: both seem to be open on weekends only. The latter also offers a tour through Sindelfingen and its weaving traditions on request. (The museums you found on the topic are far off the route.)

(Oh, and your Urururururururururonkel was an awful rich guy it seems. Somewhere inbetween Richie Rich rich and Uncle Scrooge rich.)